Keep it real… really.
What a week of paradox it’s been. As one thing falls apart, another comes together; bank approval here, foreclosure sale postponed there, and just when you feel the darkness, a double rainbow hurls itself into your horizon. Sometimes events and their contrast seem to flurry in such rapid succession, don’t they? During these accelerated moments it’s easy to get thrown off balance, wanting only to slow down to get a grip on the grounding cord. To be alive is to be in the midst of life’s energetic ebb and flow, the question is do we have to create turbulence where it need not exist?
The real estate business, like politics, always works for someone; it’s all a matter of perspective. As we buyers, sellers and agents move from under contract to closing there are negotiable moments where we work to create smooth win/wins for all and most of the time we are successful. Other times more closely resemble the Senate floor, where tactical goats butt heads in a loud and dizzying attempt to confuse the opposing strategy. To what end? What I recall from reading Sun Tzu’s Art of War in the ’80s can be summed up in a few quotes, this being one, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” When we get caught up in our need to win the present battle, so many times we lose the war and all of this stems from our loss of the larger picture. What are we fighting about, really? A garage door opener? A few thousand dollars that now have been given the power to stand in the way of achieving our larger goal?
Sometimes we fight for the principal of the matter, or we’ve been drawn into battle in self-defense. But what’s the underlying need? Our larger social conditioning is chock full of tales of battle. We worship warrior gods and punishment, inuring ourselves to the battleground we’ve made of life.
Theatre is another area where politics, strategy and tactics reign, most often in the pursuit of emotional real estate. This kind of drama is suited for the stage, in fact it cannot hold without it. But to manufacture senseless drama in our own lives is a misplaced tragic comedy, there are enough real problems that are worth the fight. We can choose to do better. Experience has taught me that though it may feel like the enemy, each event holds opportunity to enhance life if you let it. (Note to self: never argue with a hater.)
